Looking for summer holiday practice advices

Introduce Yourself
#1

Hello! :slight_smile:
I’ve recently joined this community and I really enjoy reading threads and get new knowledge, so I thought it was time to start an own and see if I can get some help (or what you should call it) with the things I’ve got in mind. I hope the post is relevant, feel free to delete it or something if it’s not.

I’m a 16 year Swede (which unfortunately not automatically means Yngwie 2.0, it just explains why my English grammar isn’t on top) and my summer holiday begin in a few weeks. Like everyone else I searched for a summer job and actually got a really good one that I later declined because I wanted to be practicing guitar instead. So now when I know I will be able to get quantity I would like to ask for advices how I should plan my practice time to get as much quality out of it as possible.
Which are the most important stuff too focus on, both when it comes to techniques and other areas.

Thank you so much if you red all way down to these words, and thank you even more if you give some advices how I should do to develop as much as I can during this summer, because I have to develop since I don’t know what I am gonna do with my life if I won’t be able to rock. :wink:

//Agnes

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#2

is your last name Norum?

  1. how long have you been playing?

  2. how good are you? lol

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#3

First, let’s swap bodies, I wanna be 16 again with all the Cracking the Code knowledge :smiley:

My suggestion would be to pick a few songs you want to learn, the difficult passages from the songs will be your technique exercises.

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#4

Hey, welcome to the forum! We have a number of discussions here on the forum about practice routines, suggestions for learning efficiently, etc. I’d try searching things like “practice time” or “practice routine” for some ideas to get started.

For more specific advice, I’d agree with @JonJon it would be helpful to get a better sense of where you’re at now, what you like playing, what you’re finding difficult, any particular goals you have…I don’t think there’s a one size fits all answer, so the more detail you give us, the more focused tips I think you’ll get.

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#5

Not that either :frowning:

  1. I’ve been playing since I was 12, but it wasn’t until like august last year I really started putting effort and time into my playing. One year ago I could play eruption but I did only know the first pentatonic scale box. Up until then I had only practicing learning songs I think, no theory and not much technical focus, and I don’t even think I practiced everyday. Last autumn I moved to start high school, with music orientation and since then I have been playing a lot more, 2-3 hours most days when in school (sometimes less and sometimes more) and on weekend days when I’m not have other plans it can be like 6 hours.

  2. Now I got all the pentatonic scale boxes as well as the major/natural minor and melodic minor in my fingers. I know basic theory and are familiar with 3- and 4-string jazz chords and some arpeggios as well. (I prefer rock/metal myself but my guitar teacher is a jazz guy with no knowledge in technique and such) I can shred 16ths notes and it sounds clean up until about 150-160 bpm, I think I can handle uwps, I haven’t tried dwps that much yet but it dosen’t feel that different from uwps or difficult. But the 2wps haven’t even tried yet. The last week my sweeping have beginning to work also, not fast but still. I have been practicing a 5 string shape that I’m able to play with triplets in about 180-190 bpm. Things I find difficult? Playing faster than that lol. And find time and motivation to write own stuff, which I think is fun and probably important but at where I’m now it feels like it’s more important to practice. I’m also afraid to get carpal tunnel syndrome or some other injury, how should I do to avoid that?

That you so much for the responds!

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#6

Fantastic idea my friend! And it 's actually true with every knowledge, not just guitar playing :wink:

Tom

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#7

maybe u can start to work on 2wps?

this is an easy one to start with even though its a bit weird because its 10 notes. So its a lot of notes and it gives you plenty of time to gradually switch between uwps and dwps. So u go to the E string with uwps and come back to the B with dwps

E----------------5–7--8–7--5-------
B-----5–6--8--------------------8–6 loop it etc

the next step might be the same basic thing but less notes so u have less time to switch angles ,but this one is still pretty easy. this is 16th notes

E----------------5–7--5--------
B-----5–6--8-------------8–6

some people have success with this idea also

E----------------5–7--8-------------5–7--8 etc
B-----5–6--8-------------5–6--8-------

then the REALLY hard one lol. This is the one Paul Gilbert started with on his famous Intense Rock video tape but he later said it was a mistake. He had been playing for 9 years when he made that video

Its triplets and you go to the E string with uwps but at the same time you are switching back to dwps to come back to the B string

E----------------5--------
B-----5–6--8------8–6

The first 2 I showed are WAY easier. Believe it or not that last lick basically broke me for over 25 years lol. I simply couldnt get it to any speed so i gave up on it and just did other stuff. With the Cracking the Code info and some better practice focus I can do it pretty good now lol

Ill write some more later after work, peace, JJ

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#8

The funny thing about the PG lick is - PG doesn’t really play it 100% clean :smiley: He does the infamous “swipe”, and I bet pretty much anyone who plays this at high speed does it as well (I certainly do, and I think it’s very hard to hear in most cases). Except Troy and maybe Martin Miller of course!

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#9

Thank you very much, this is so helpful! I’ve already taken a look at the exercises and they are really fun :slight_smile:

Do you have some song examples where this technique is used?

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#10

Ok I’m being a bit self-promotional here, but you could check some of my transcriptions on Soundlisce, all the Vinnie stuff requires two-way pickslanting:

Edit: oh and of course also this page, which is by @LuckyMojo if I’m not mistaken?

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#11

Thank you very much!

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#12

I’d recommend what JonJon said. The exercises he showed are great for building core skills. Alternate picking is, IMO, the most valuable skill on the guitar. Generally speaking it’s also the one that most people are lacking in.

The only thing I’d add is a few single-string exercises before the two string ones he gave. It will give you a comfortable picking motion that you can use as a basis from which you will build more advanced technique.

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#13

Thank you! A really dumb question: everybody here is talking about some Yngwie 6 note pattern, exactly which are they refering to? I’ve found several…

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#14

It should be the one in the Volcano seminar. I think it is literally called “Six Note Pattern”.

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#15

the basic ‘yngwie’ 6 note pattern is this idea:

E—8–5--7–8--7–5 repeat etc

thats triplets or sextuplets so u count 1-2-3-1-2-3 etc

Yngwie usually does them starting with the pinky or for him maybe the ring finger so he uses 1-2-3 fingers

Joe Stump likes the version where u start on the middle note so usually the 2nd finger. I do this type like 90% of the time.

E----7–5--7–8--7–5

these patterns are great building blocks for shreddy stuff and getting good basic synchronization between the 2 hands etc

once u get good at then u can easily move them up or down the string and also across strings

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#16

The intersection of age and Swedishness reminded me of TV commercial that will ring bells for Canadians of a certain age:

(Props to all the folks who offered genuinely useful suggestions instead of obscure nostalgia ;-))

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#17

Here’s a practice schedule that I use, I split it up so I do different things on different days, or different times of the day if you have the time. Or just do whatever, but keeping a routine and schedule will help you no matter what.

guitar%20practice%20schedule
guitar practice schedule.jpg1365×674 150 KB

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#18

Nice schedule! :slight_smile:
I’m just curious, as you have writing on the schedule, are your creativity always flowing? Or how do you do to get started?

#19

I downloaded this schedule from another forum, haha. I don’t really follow it strictly, it’s just useful because I’m so scattered that a routine of any sort helps. And I’m not the best person to ask because I don’t really think about it, I just jam out until something sounds cool and go with it. I’ve lived long enough to know that my creative juices are more like mystery than anything else haha

#20

I am giving my best to procastinate atm, so i will give my 2 cents:

1st cent: When i was a teenager and still cool, i put a lot of time in but progress came very hard after a while. All my guitar teacher told me was that “practice” is really important but i just thought that means having a 6 hour practice plan. I didnt really understand how progress on an instrument happens until i read “The principles of effortless classical guitar”. The book is written for classical guitarists (yeah…) so there is better material than that. It was priceless for me ,though, because it introduced me to the idea that speed and synch comes from eliminating excessive muscle tension (and having the right movements ctc-style, ofcourse) and not from “training” whatever you do for hours until it works.

So what i want to say, maybe instead of practicing 6 hours, practice 3 and set aside some time for lecture :slight_smile: . The free Ctc series/videos are priceless and there is also this gem which JJ posted Fundamentals of Piano Practice: Post Practice Improvement (PPI).

2nd cent: I’ve found that recording yourself can make a great difference in how you approach practice. Maybe make a habit out of recording just one small lick a day with your phone. (I know this is random advice, its just my new thing to do and i kind of enjoy it but most of all i needed a second cent to make the wordplay work!)

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